Learning by Playing

Todays youngest generation will never know a day without the ability to interact with and manipulate every form of media they use. From iPods to Tivo to creating avatars in computer games to 24/7 online access virtually anywhere, to personalized cell phone ring tones, to MySpace pages, this generation controls and customizes their media experiences. As a result of being raised in this environment, they are simply wired differently — both technologically and some argue cerebrally.

Based on their comfort level with all types of multimedia, it is easy to conclude that educators will have to reach and teach this generation through innovative and much more engaging methods than are currently employed in the average classroom. Enter the new and improved "edutainment industry", or as I refer to it, "learning by playing".

Two decades or so ago the term "edutainment" was introduced to describe the intersection of entertainment and education in among other things, computer games. Although some of the original educational games did represent innovative approaches to learning - for example, Carmen Sandiego (1985) and Oregon Trail (1974) - the majority weren't successful. Why? Because they werent fun to play. Above all else, educational games must be games.

Games are a unique form of media because they immerse players in a world of both competition and collaboration. Players win a game by successfully navigating through moments of decision-making and meeting challenging goals by incorporating feedback. Along the way, they learn skills such as: data and resource manipulation, strategic planning, negotiation and more. Or more likely, they fail at one or more of these tasks the first time around and then have to do it all over again, until they master the skill, gain the knowledge or win the battle.

This idea of "cloaked learning" in games implies that fun gameplay, married with strong, but "cloaked" educational elements, teaches effectively because it does so covertly instead of overtly. Kids become so immersed in the game, they don't realize that they are learning as they play...or at the very least, they don't mind that they are learning because they are immediately applying their new knowledge in an attempt to win the game.

Some recent examples of this include the Tycoon games (Rollercoaster Tycoon, Zoo Tycoon, etc). In RCT, players create and manage a theme park while learning "cloaked" economic and business concepts throughout the game. From polling target customers on their ride preferences to scheduling maintenance checks, to deciding what to charge for admission, players are running a business in this game with the end goal of making money. Imagine what they can learn after spending 5 hours playing this game. Then contrast that with what they can learn by simply reading a textbook.

Whatever you call this trend — stealth learning, covert learning, learning by doing, learning by playing, experiential learning — the goal is the same: to create a memorable gaming experience that entertains while it educates. Because of the way this generation is wired, players will remember events they actually create and experience through interactive games, much more readily than anything they simply read in a textbook.

There is still a long way to go in realizing the full promise and best application of games in education, but this type of educational tool is a logical step towards engaging the next generation and revolutionizing how we teach. After all, we can't teach them if we can't reach them.

Lauer Learning readily accepts this challenge. By making learning fun, memorable, engaging, and experiential, kids and adults alike will yearn to learn!

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